your perfect rig?

B

BillKociaba

Blues Newbie
Hay guys, new guy needing some imput, again. Old player restarting and rebuilding. Working with a recent LP standard and a trainer YCV20WR amp and now its time to fill in that space between the two. Actually my wife is driving me crazy over Christmas so going to give her a pedal list to work from. I know I NEED a looper and looks like the ditto is my best bet also thinking a tube screamer but beyond that I am at a loss. Back when I played (a hundred years ago)I had a great multi effects processer from digitec but since then my vision has decided to depart so as far as I know that knocksmulti effect gadgets out of the running. so considering a moderate budget(I know that's relative)what would you guys add or go with instead of what I have already mentioned. And this should maybe be a second thread but any thoughts on the TS 808 vs 9? I had a guy at guitar center telling me the 9 was a piece of junk and really pushing the 808. He just seemed to be trying to push me twords the more pricey items though so can't trust his imput.
as always thanks in advance for any help
Bill
 
tommytubetone

tommytubetone

Great Lakes
Not much into pedals, but at every BGU LIVE event I've attended Griff had a TS-9 on the floor in front of everyone.
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
BillKociaba, I could talk to you about pedals all day long. Been playing 45+ years. Have tried about every "808' variant out there. Here is my shelf of pedals that I still have that I no longer use. You don't see a TS808 or TS9 there because I left those in the dust years ago and sold them or gave them away. The VS Double Trouble you do see there trumped everything in the "808" camp that came before it.
IMG_0643.JPG
I fairly recently put together a small compact board with only the pedals that I consider essential to get me through any gig. For the "808" niche I chose the Earthquaker Devices Dunes pedal and dearly love it. Most versatile "808" pedal I have ever used. But an "808" pedal alone is not enough, you also need some kind of full-range (no mid hump) pedal ... I have two, my Okko Diablo Gain + and my J Rockett Dude. And if you ever want a Marshall sound, you need a pedal for that as well.

Here is the little board I came up with and I am VERY happy with it. None of these pedals are a "budget" pedal save one ... the HoTone Golden Touch. If you are looking for the "best" pedals you can't let price come into the picture.
COMPACT BOARD.JPG

Personally I don't need a looper because there are thousands of jam tracks out there for a dime a dozen better than anything I could put together with a looper.
 
Last edited:
cowboy

cowboy

Blues, Booze & BBQ
RR is like a kid in a candy store...no matter what he gets, he always wants more...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:...probably a ton of in here that fall into the same trap...:whistle::whistle::whistle:...all that being said, my intrigue with pedals is never ending but I find the "dark side" growing...for a taste of this, check out this item...

The Dark Side

...later.

cowboy
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
cowboy said:
RR is like a kid in a candy store...no matter what he gets, he always wants more...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:...probably a ton of in here that fall into the same trap...:whistle::whistle::whistle:...all that being said, my intrigue with pedals is never ending but I find the "dark side" growing...for a taste of this, check out this item...

The Dark Side

...later.

cowboy
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: How true it is. For over 40 years I have been looking for the "best" pedals I could find. Most new guys are headed for that same path even if they don't know it yet. You just can't take someone else's opinion (including mine) of any pedal as gospel because you aren't them and what they dearly love you might detest. I ended up with a pedal board that needed a fork lift to move (half of the pedals on that shelf above were on it).

No multiprocessor on the planet will ever make me happy for various reasons (let's let that rest, it's a totally different subject) but you can fall into the same trap with them as well.
 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
Hey Bill,
Looks like you're starting out with a nice guitar/amp set up(y)

Everyone has an opinion, here's mine.
I think the basic effects are reverb and/or delay, O/D and a wah.
You've got reverb on the amp so, adding delay might be a nice enhancement.
I think the TS will cover the basics for O/D, however Griff swears by the good ole Boss Blues driver as a second O/D. One additional benefit of adding any Boss Pedal to your gig is that it adds a buffer, which will be helpful if you have an extended signal chain.
Why wah?.....it's one one of the most expressive tools you can have.
You may not use it all the time but, you just can't get that sound from anything else and it puts the control in your hands (foot).

At the risk of making this more complicated then it needs to be, I always recommend testing pedals with "YOUR" gear before you buy. As, I've said before, "everyone has an opinion", some of that is personal taste but a lot of it is how pedals perform with different rigs.
I'm fortunate to live near many great shops that I can drag my gear to for comparison shopping.
Testing effects with your guitar into your amp can make a world of difference.
At the end of the day it may actually simplify your gear selection, in the long run.

Regarding Tube Screamers:
If you're torn on which one, consider one pedal that has them all.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Bonsai--jhs-bonsai-9-way-screamer-overdrive-pedal
As I recall, it was on Griff's shopping list when it came out.

One last thought:
If you think you'll be adding more effects pedals down the road you may want to invest in a pedal board with room to grow and a good power supply.
I like Pedaltrain boards and VoodoLabs Pedal Power 2 Plus :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/Pedaltrain
https://www.sweetwater.com/c961--Voodoo_Lab--Power_Supplies
 
Last edited:
A

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
Keep your costs low. TS mini and boss bd2. Use in that order. All you need for about $150. Now all you want just add $$$ till you are finished.

Cheers

Al
 
Zzzen Dog

Zzzen Dog

Blues Junior
If you're going to primarily focus on the blues, you'll probably want to consider the following:
  • Wah
  • Fuzz
  • Tube screamer variant
  • Blues driver
  • Compressor
  • Basic delay
  • Tremolo
  • Reverb
A lot of this is to taste, and is also based on how much you like or dislike the overdrive and reverb of the Traynor.

Honestly, assuming you like the Traynor's tones, with access to the overdrive and reverb... you've got a pretty good tone palette already available to you.

A lot of the other stuff is just flavoring.

Understand, I'm a gear junkie. All of which is far more capable than I am. And the pedals are a lot of fun, and they can lead you to find a tone that you really like. Let the hunt begin!
 
Crossroads

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
With the OD and the Reverb on a Traynor, all you need is a footswitch to change channels and to kick in the Reverb. Traynor makes a nice spring reverb and I was plenty happy with the drive I got out of the 12Ax 7s on my Ycv80. But if you drive the power tubes that's where that amp really sings.
So my recommendation would be a footswitch for channel switching and Reverb if the amp didn't come with one, wah/volume pedal, a delay and maybe a clean boost. If you get a TS then you can back off the drive and use it as a clean boost as well. As far as a perfect rig, that will change from week-to-week
 
Last edited:
Silicon Valley Tom

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Everyone is different! Get one of each - that goes for guitars, amplifiers, and pedals. Well, if you have the money, that is one approach.

I have one pedal, a Keeley Luna Overdrive. I do not use it very much, but it is there - just in case. I finally found the types of guitars I like, and a very nice amplifier. So I just like to turn on the amplifier, pick up the guitar, and play. My preference is to have the guitar volume controls on max, and use the amplifier to set the audio level. I do not care for reverb, or other effects. I just like to play the guitar.

My advice is to find what makes you happy. You might end up with a house full of stuff, but that is the risk of playing electric guitar. You have to find what makes you happy.

Some people demand that they have the specific type of guitar, amplifier, pedals, and strings, that were used for an original recording of a specific piece of music. I know one guy who has 12 guitars on stage for a performance, one for each piece he plays. He wants his sound to be "authentic". Personally, I think that is going too far, but to each his own! :)

Tom
 
jmin

jmin

Student Of The Blues
These GASsers keep making me buy stuff...so far one acoustic, two electrics, and two amps!!! (all inexpensive stuff, but fun!!!)
I wanted to know what all this pedal stuff is about, so I bought one that seems to be a common pedal in blues. Now, I just need a BD, tremolo, and delay! Though I keep thinking multi-effects is probably a more efficient way to go.
My inexpensive (cheap!), BGU-inspired, "perfect" Blues rig so far: Firefly guitar, monoprice stage right amp, and this...

Behringer TO800

(...I'm up to $339!)
 
straightblues

straightblues

Blues Junior
There are a lot of great demo videos on Youtube. Spend some time listening and you will find what you like pretty quickly. Like RR said, there are many copies of the 808 pedal out there these days and at almost all price points. Listen to videos and then we can direct you. The drive pedals break down into a couple categories: Boost, Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz. There are a ton of variations of each. Then there are amps in a box pedal so you can make any amp sound like a Tweed, Marshall, Vox, or Black Face Fender.
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
CaptainMoto said:
Regarding Tube Screamers:
If you're torn on which one, consider one pedal that has them all.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Bonsai--jhs-bonsai-9-way-screamer-overdrive-pedal
As I recall, it was on Griff's shopping list when it came out.
Click to expand...
Chappers and The Captain did a blind test of the Bonsai. Chappers sat behind a screen and played, the Captain switched the pedal between the different selections. Chappers couldn't even tell the selections apart. Neither could I listening to it. So ... what that says to me is that if that pedal can replicate every Ibanez "808" variant out there, then all Ibanez "808" variants are so close to each other that differences are rather moot. And that is also what I have found after buying an 808, a TS9 and a TS10.

Now look at the Earthquaker Devices Dunes pedal. Every selection on it is distinctly different ... much more versatile.
 
Last edited:
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
Rancid Rumpboogie said:
Chappers and The Captain did a blind test of the Bonsai. One sat behind a screen and played, the other switched the pedal between the different selections. The one doing the playing couldn't even tell the selections apart.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
I'm not sure I could tell the difference between any version.
I wonder if @Griff ever got one and if so, what's his take on it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top